khabarovsk, far-east siberia
TRANSCRIPT
The refined elegance of Khabarovsk
Khabarovsk, pop. 600 000, is the largest city of the Russian Far East.
Хабаровск, 48.5°N 135.1°E
Khabarovsk is located at the confluence of the Amur River with its tributary the Ussuri River.
In spite of the location just 25 km from China, it looks quite European with tree-lined streets and graceful architecture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Khabarovsk
Khabarovsk lies on the right bank of the Amur river, 40 km below the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri.
These two rivers form a natural setting for a borderline between Russia and China.
China
The Amur Bridge is located 4 km from the center of Khabarovsk. Completed in 1916, it was described then as "the Amur wonder".The total length of the bridge is 3,5 km.
Downtown Khabarovsk is mainly a set of paralel avenues running down to the Amur river, the two most concurred being those that start at the Dinamo park and the main square area
The old town and cultural quarter looks over the river
From the town´s main square, decorated with fountains and gardens, starts the elegant main street, Muravyov-Amursky boulevard.
The long avenue stretches from the square down to the river Amur.
The Government of the Khabarovsk Krai, the province of Khabarovsk.
A magnificent simetrical set of 9 fountains decorates the square
The two sets of four iron carved fountains are the square’s main attraction
Muravyov – Amursky blv.
The main street, where shopping and cultural life take place, and where most of the best buildings are located.
The main street looks more elegantly old-fashioned than any other street in Khabarovsk, and is a live chronicle of the city’s history.
Central department store L'Etoile (1914)Nº23, Muravyov – Amursky
Entrance to the cafe “Cup of tea", at the Central department store
Sovkino movie theater,the oldest in Khabarovsk.
36, Muravyov – Amursky
The Old Duma, one of the oldest buildings in the city.
Nº 17-19 Muravyov – Amursky
“Tainy remesla“ : inside the Duma, a souvenir shop: ivory bone, caskets, dolls, toys, goods made by native people of Far East, decorations made of stone, wood and amber, ceramics.
Built in 1907-09
Theater for the young spectator, Khabarovsk Regional Youth Theater
Old “town hall”, 1909
Street scenes
Муравьева-Амурского Муравьева-Амурского
Café “Russia”Russian cuisine
5-9, Muravyov-Amurski
Nurse School house
The Nurse schoolart-nouveau building, Muravyov-Amursky st.
Old town perspective
Lotus trade center, M-A 7
Trading center Kunst and Albers, with its summer esplanade
Downstreet to the river
Intersection with Ussuri and Turgenev streets
An elegant brick façade
Drugstore / pharmacy, M-A, 8
Far eastern State library of science(1900)Muravyov – Amursky, 1
A Research library in Khabarovsk.
Another intricate red-and-gray brick façade.
Office Building of the Amur River Shipping Company. Built in years 1932-1934
Towers of Khabarovsk
Cathedral Square, with Assumption Cathedral ( Komsomolskaya in soviet times) Muravyov-Amursky
Amur Shipping Co.
Shevchenko st. museums
Stairway down to the river
Shevchenko Street Culture and achitecture
There is a fantastic cluster of museums along Shevchenko Street, just behind the tall blue-domed Church on Komsomolskaya square towards the river.
The museums also have their home in some impressive century old buildings dating back to before the revolution.
Fine Arts Museum and Concert hall7, Shevchenko st.
orthodox seminary
Concert hall of the Khabarovsk Krai Philharmonic, founded in 1938
Art MuseumRanks amongst Russia's best and has been awarded numerous awards and commendations.
The museum has an impressive collection of Russian and European art dating back to the 15th century, as well as samples of art by native nationalities of the region.
Rebecca al PozzoTiziano Vecellio (1488-1576).
Among other precious works, one from Canaletto pictures the Santa Maria Maggiore a Roma (1769).
A rich collection of early Slavic icons
The Local Lore Museum, or Far Eastern Arts Museum 11, Shevchenko Street
One of the oldest museums in the Russian far east, laid out in 6 sections in an impressive 1894 red-brick building. http://hkm.ru/texts/view/54
Set up in 1931, at present it holds over 10,000 pieces of Russian and Western Arts, as well as, a unique collection of the Far Eastern aboriginal applied arts, that includes fish skin outfits, beautiful carpets and bone-engraved items.
Nanai (round) and Oroch (square) birch baskets from the Khabarovsk region.
Hunter's hat called bogdo
from the village of Gvasiugi, Amur River
Inupiaq pincushion from Kotzebue, Alaska,1986, of bleached sealskin, leather, felt, sequins, and beads.
Archeological museum
The museum’s main feature are the reproductions and diagrams of the wide-eyed figures found at the ancient Sikachi-Alyan petroglyphs. some dating from 30 000 years ago.
The Petroglyphs of Sikachi-Alyan
Travelling down the Amur river, some cliff-pictures can be found by the village of Sikachi-Alyan. They are the most valuable source of cognition of history and culture of the indigenous peoples.
They have also been added to the UNESCO World Heritage list.
A petroglyph on a rock by the Amur river
Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Khabarovsk Scientific Center 9, Shevchenko st.
Institute of Applied Mathematics Computer Center Institute for Material Studies Institute of Machinery and Metallurgy Mining Institute Institute of Water and Ecological Problems Economic Research Institute Institute of Complex Analysis of Regional Problems Institute of Tectonics and Geophysics
The russian orthodox Grado-Khabarovsk Cathedral of Mother of God’s Assumption
Constructed in 2002. to replace the cathedral destroyed in the 1930s.
The walkway down to Khabarovsk's Amur River embankment reflects the city’s order, elegance and cleanliness
The city park
Amursky boulevard
Broad avenue with up and down tram lines, hotels and shops, starting at the Railway Station and stretching down to the Amur river walk, where it joins Shebyshev Street.
Khabarovsk Railway Station
The railways, from west and east, from north and south are coming together in Khabarovsk. The Railway square is the Railway Gates of Khabarovsk City..
Ocean Express Okean, runs from Khabarovsk to Vladivostok
The Trans Siberian railroad
The Trans Siberian railroad, the longest in the world, goes through Khabarovsk and connects the Far East with the central Russian areas
Bench in the platform
Привокзальная площадь
The Station square, where Amursky boulevard starts.
Tram lines run along the first part of Amursky blv.
Volochaevskaya street crosses from Amursky blv. to Muravyov-Amursky st.
Restaurant “Khabarovsk”
Volochaevskaya street
Hotel Khabarovsk
Public art on a bench, Amursky blv
Seryshev Street
Far Eastern State Transport University
formed in 1937 as the Khabarovsk Institute of Railway Transport Engineers.
“The arch”, a neoclassical building
Innokenti church (St. Innocent of Irkutsk)
By the Amur River, this is the oldest church in Khabarovsk.
The first wooden church in Khabarovsk
Bbuilt in 1868, two years later it was consecrated and named as Innokentievskaya, in the honor of the holy Innokenty, the first bishop of Irkutsk city, patron of Siberia and the Russian Far East.
30 years later, instead of the wooden one, a new stone building was constructed, which is kept till now with few changes.
Turgenev street
Turgenev street aproaching the cathedral
Cathedral church of the Saviour’s Transfiguration
Only completed in 2004, at 83 meters this is the 3rd tallest church in all Russia
The spectacular set of the cathedral and the seminary makes this square the most monumental in town.
The orthodox seminary
Perspective of the cathedral area and the Amur river.
City Hall of KhabarovskClose to Dinamo park
Far Eastern Railway Co.
Lions close toCity Park entry
Dinamo ParkEntry
Very popular on sunny days; the water ponds are searched for
splashing and cooling down.
Voronezhskaya street
Church of Princess Elizabeth the Great
(railway hospital church)
Near Voronezhskaya st(off center)
Volochaevskaya st.
Khabarovsk CircusVolochaevskaya st.
The Circus is a popular place. It keeps going year round. Talented and well-known circus groups from Moscow and St. Petersburg come to Khabarovsk.
Khabarovsk circus had a brand new home constructed a few years back, in a impressive building. There will usually be guest performances from all over Russia or even China.
Old town wooden houses
Sheronov street
House with ghosts in the downtown of Khabarovsk. Nobody lives there,
The outdoor swimming pools
The Amur walk, the cliff and the beach
Ferry station Amur
In summer, boat cruises start from the beach.
Boat crusing on the Amur river
The Amur Cliff (Utyos)
This is where the city was founded in the spring of 1858: here the mighty waters of the Amur River break against a high cliff.
The historical origin of Khabarovsk, 145 years ago
The cliff facing the Amur is an icon of the city; the building at the top is now a restaurant - Café Utyos - at the bottom of Shevchenko street.
Utyos is located an unusual art nouveau building from the forties on top of the tall cliff dominating the waterfront. It has a large balcony with spectacular views of the Amur,
Café Utyos, 15 Shevchenko St.
The Amur balcons, overlooking to China
Khabarovsk in Winter
The Ice Fantasy Festival
Annual ice sculpting competition that has been held in January every year, the festival attracts some of the best ice-sculptors.
Khabarovsk at night
Around Khabarovsk
The Amur River sets the fronteer between Russia and China; but in places like this, several islands and canals make the line dubious – and some conflict exists: here the russians have buit in a hurry a little chapel to affirm their sovereignt…
Though from space it looks like a impact crater or the remnants of an ancient volcano, the Kondyor Massif, in Russia, is an "intrusion."
An intrusion forms when molten magma of igneous rock crystallizes below the surface of the earth, in this case forming a perfectly circular rocky ring over a billion years ago. It lies in the drainage basin of the lower Amur River in Khabarovsk Krai.
The intrusion is huge, five miles in diameter, and it occupies a vast mountainous area along the coastline of the Sea of Okhotsk, an arm of the Pacific Ocean.
The Amur tiger
Map
Sources:
Photos and text excerpts from
• http://www.trekearth.com• http://www.panoramio.com/• http://www.pbase.com• http://www.flickr.com/• http://picasaweb.google.com• http://www.woophy.com/photo
© Mario Ricca, 2010